PSYCHEDELIC ASSISTED THERAPY
What is Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy?
The time of thinking of psychedelics as a dangerous threat to society has passed. In the last 10 years there has been a psychedelic renaissance as researchers have gotten FDA approval to study the impact of psychedelic therapy on complex and often treatment resistant issues such as depression, addiction, and PTSD. For a more in depth read of what is happening in the current research please read my paper. As this research is being published and making its way into the mainstream, people are taking matters into their own hands and using psychedelics to expand their consciousness and promote their own healing. This is generally a positive experience—except when its not.
Sometimes during the use of psychedelics buried traumas and painful truths are revealed. The set (mindset) and setting (your physical environment) in which you take a psychedelic matters. This is how psychedelic assisted psychotherapy can be of benefit- by helping create a safe and healing set and setting. Getting the right support can be the difference between trauma and healing.
Some reasons people seek psychedelic assisted psychotherapy:
Will I be Taking Psychedelics?
Yes, this is available to those that feel called. As of the time of this writing in the state of Colorado, the Natural Medicine Health Act regulations are being hashed out by a panel and group of stakeholders of which I am a part of. This is a rapidly changing field, and if all goes as planned MDMA will most likely be legalized for therapeutic use soon, as well as psilocybin.
Ketamine assisted psychotherapy (KAP) is also a legal option. Clients obtain a ketamine prescription from a licensed medical professional. Then the ketamine is brought and ingested orally during the therapy session.
To become more informed about Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy read this article: About Ketamine: The Full Story-A Public Discourse.
What is an Intronaut Journey and How Does it Relate to Psychedelic Assisted Therapy?
Intronaut sessions are therapy sessions that mimic psychedelic therapy without the psychedelic. The research has shown that even when individuals get the placebo, there is still statistically significant improvement. This success points to the importance of the process of the therapy, and not just the medicine itself. An intronaut journey includes 3 stages, all of which are equally important.
What Training Do You Have In This Area?
Good question! With all the recent enthusiasm and promise surrounding the psychedelic therapy movement, there are a lot of people wanting to do this work. It’s important to ask whomever you work with what kind of training they have. I graduated from the California Institute of Integral Studies with a certificate in Psychedelic Therapies and Research in Dec. of 2019. This program is unique as it is offered by an accredited University, hosted guest speakers that are leaders in the field such as Geoffrey Guss, Jamie Wheal, William Richards, and Michael and Annie Mithoefer, and required a rigorous combination of academic and experimental learning. You can read my final paper from the program here.
In addition in 2022 I completed a week long training on Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy with the creator of IFS Dick Schwartz and The Ketamine Training Center Director Phil Wolfson.
Part of what psychedelics do is they decondition you from cultural values. This is what makes it such a political hot potato. Since all culture is a kind of con game, the most dangerous candy you can hand out is one which causes people to start questioning the rules of the game.
It is impossible to understand addiction without asking what relief the addict finds, or hopes to find, in the drug or the addictive behaviour.
Becoming “awake” involves seeing our confusion more clearly.
